§ Viscount WOLMERI beg to move, "That leave be given to bring in a Bill to amend the Corrupt and Illegal Practices Prevention Act, 1895."
The object of this Bill is to make it a corrupt practice for anybody, during an election, to deliberately make a misstatement of fact with the intent to affect the result of the election. I need not remind the House that this is already a corrupt practice according to the Act of 1895 if the statement affects the personal character of the candidate. The object of my Bill is to bring any misstatement of fact that is calculated to turn the election into the ambit of the Act of 1895. I maintain that from the point of view of the electorate it is really irrelevant whether the misstatement affects the personal character of the candidate or not. It is desirable, from the point of view of getting an election which represents the opinions of the electors, that the electors should vote with a full knowledge of the facts before them, and, if they vote under a misapprehension of the fact, then it has not been a fair election. Of course, recent events in Leicester have drawn public attention to this matter, but I am not going to pretend for a single instant that members of every party in the State have not at various periods been responsible for such mispractices. I have no desire, for my part, to make a party attack on this occasion, but I just wish to refer to the Leicester election and show the House the sort of case that I mean, and, in doing so, I am not going to use my own 1896 words, but I am going to quote the words of the hon. Member for Leicester, the Leader of the Labour party (Mr. Ramsay Macdonald). This is what he said:—
I want to say a word about that queer manifesto that was announced from a Liberal platform on Wednesday night. May I say that there was not a single word in that announcement that was true?Unfortunately, the hon. Member for Leicester made that speech after the election and not before it.
§ Mr. RAMSAY MACDONALDI sent two telegrams before the election to the same effect.
§ Viscount WOLMERI apologise to the hon. Member if I have made any unjust accusation against him, but I think the fact remains that thousands of electors at Leicester went to the poll or abstained from going to the poll under a misapprehension, and that therefore the election was not held under fair conditions. It is for that reason that I desire to introduce this Bill to render that sort of practice a corrupt practice. Really, democratic government is impossible if the eleventh-hour lie is to be an habitual practice at all by-elections. Whether it takes place at Leicester or at Bolton or anywhere else, it is a practice which should be brought to an end.
§ Sir MAURICE LEVYI rise to oppose this Bill. Like the Noble Lord, I desire to see elections purified. I desire to see a very comprehensive Corrupt Practices Amendment Act, but I do not think it would be possible to pass it through this House by any private Member. If I thought it were possible to pass a Corrupt Practices Amendment Act by a private Member, I should not oppose this Bill, but I do not believe there is any Member in this House who really believes that there is any sincerity in the Noble Lord's proposal this afternoon. [HON. MEMBERS: "Withdraw."]
§ Mr. SPEAKERI would point out that the hon. Member has only ten minutes, and it is not fair to occupy the time with interruptions.
§ Sir MAURICE LEVYIf any proof that I am justified in snaking that statement 1897 were desired, I would only refer to the action of the Noble Lord when I was assisting in presenting the hon. Member for Leicester (Mr. Hewart), and when he threw across the House a most vulgar, insulting remark.
§ Viscount WOLMEROn a point of Order. Is the hon. Member entitled to make an accusation of that sort?
§ Mr. SPEAKERWhat the Noble Lord said to the hon. Member as he passed through the House was "forged telegram."
§ Viscount WOLMERAnd was it not a forged telegram?
§ Mr. SPEAKERAs the Noble Lord made use of such an expression, I do not think it lies in his mouth to complain of what the hon. Member has said.
§ 4.0 P.M.
§ Sir M. LEVYLet me at once say that there was no forged telegram at all. It was a telephonic message, and, through some unfortunate circumstance in the Press, some additions were made to it. I think I am justified in saying the Noble Lord should be the last man to accuse me of sending a forged telegram, seeing that he is closely associated with, and related to one——
§ Mr. SPEAKERThe hon. Member is not speaking to the Motion. I do not know to what he is referring, but evidently it cannot relate to this Bill.
§ Sir M. LEVYI will not labour the point further. I think I am justified, in the circumstances, in asking the House to
§ reject the Bill. Anyone who has gone to by-elections throughout the length and breadth of the country must know that the Corrupt Practices Act has become a dead letter, in consequence of the organisations brought by other bodies into our midst. At the last election in Leicester there were dozens of organisations brought into the town for the purpose of preventing people really understanding the point at issue. If I thought that a private Member could by any means carry a Bill through this House which would prevent the introduction of these alien organisations, I would not ask the House to reject this Bill. But, believing firmly that no private Member can do that, I earnestly appeal to my hon. Friends in the House not to enact this farce which the Noble Lord suggests this afternoon.
§ Bill ordered to be brought in by Viscount Wolmer, Mr. Amery, Earl Winterton, Mr. Mills, Lord Robert Cecil, and Mr. Rupert Gwynne. Presented accordingly, and read the first time; to be read a second time To-morrow, and to be printed. [Bill 233.]
1901| Division No. 147.] | AYES. | [4.5 p.m. |
| Abraham, William (Dublin, Harbour) | Barran, Sir J. N. (Hawick Burghs) | Burt, Rt. Hon. Thomas |
| Abraham, Rt. Hon. William (Rhondda) | Barton, William | Buxton, Rt. Hon. Sydney C. (Poplar) |
| Acland, Francis Dyke | Beale, Sir William Phipson | Carr-Gomm, H. W. |
| Adamson, William | Beauchamp, Sir Edward | Cawley, Harold T. (Lancs., Heywood) |
| Addison, Dr. Christopher | Beck, Arthur Cecil | Chancellor, Henry George |
| Agnew, Sir George William | Benn, W. W. (T. Hamlets, St. George) | Clancy, John Joseph |
| Ainsworth, John Stirling | Bentham, G. J. | Clough, William |
| Alden, Percy | Birrell, Rt. Hon. Augustine | Collins, Sir Stephen (Lambeth) |
| Alien, Arthur A. (Dumbartonshire) | Black, Arthur W. | Compton-Rickett, Rt. Hon. Sir J. |
| Allen, Rt. Hon. Charles P. (Stroud) | Boland, John Plus | Condon, Thomas Joseph |
| Arnold, Sydney | Booth, Frederick Handel | Cornwall, Sir Edwin A. |
| Asquith, Rt. Hon. Herbert Henry | Bowerman, Charles W. | Cory, Sir Clifford John |
| Atherley-Jones, Llewellyn A. | Boyle, Daniel (Mayo, North) | Cotton, William Francis |
| Baker, H. T. (Accrington) | Brace, William | Cowan, W. H. |
| Baker, Joseph A. (Finsbury, E.) | Brady, Patrick Joseph | Craig, Herbert J. (Tynemouth) |
| Balfour, Sir Robert (Lanark) | Brocklehurst, W. B. | Crean, Eugene |
| Baring, Sir Godfrey (Barnstaple) | Brunner, John F. L. | Crooks, William |
| Barlow, Sir John Emmott (Somerset) | Buckmaster, Stanley O. | Crumley, Patrick |
| Barnes, George N. | Burke, E. Haviland | Cullinan, John |
| Dalziel, Rt. Hon. Sir J. H. (Kirkcaldy) | King, Joseph | Price, C. E. (Edinburgh, Central) |
| Davies, Ellis William (Eifion) | Lambert, Rt. Hon. G. (Devon, S.Molton) | Price, Sir R. J. (Norfolk, E.) |
| Davies, Timothy (Lincs., Louth) | Lambert, Richard (Wilts, Cricklade) | Priestley, Sir Arthur (Grantham) |
| Davies, M. Vaughan- (Cardigan) | Lardner, James C. R. | Priestley, Sir W. E. B. (Bradford, E.) |
| Delany, William | Law, Hugh A. (Donegal, W.) | Pringle, William M. R. |
| Devlin, Joseph | Lawson, Sir W. (Cumb'rld, Cockerm'th) | Radford, G. H. |
| Dickinson, W H. | Leach, Charles | Raffan, Peter Wilson |
| Dillon, John | Levy, Sir Maurice | Raphael, Sir Herbert H. |
| Donelan, Captain A. | Lewis, Rt. Hon. John Herbert | Rea, Rt. Hon. Russell (South Shields) |
| Doris, William | Lough, Rt. Hon. Thomas | Rea, Walter Russell (Scarborough) |
| Duffy, William J. | Low, Sir Frederick (Norwich) | Redmond, John E. (Waterford) |
| Duncan, C. (Barrow-in-Furness) | Lundon, Thomas | Redmond, William (Clare, E.) |
| Duncan, J. Hastings (Yorks, Otley) | Lyell, Charles Henry | Redmond, William Archer (Tyrone, E.) |
| Edwards, Clement (Glamorgan, E.) | Lynch, A. A. | Rendall, Athelstan |
| Elverston, Sir Harold | Macdonald, J. Ramsay (Leicester) | Richardson, Albion (Peckham) |
| Esmonde, Dr. John (Tipperary, N.) | Macdonald, J. M. (Falkirk Burghs) | Richardson, Thomas (Whitehaven) |
| Esmonde, Sir Thomas (Wexford, N.) | McGhee, Richard | Roberts, Charles H. (Lincoln) |
| Essex, Sir Richard Walter | Maclean, Donald | Roberts, George H. (Norwich) |
| Esslemont, George Birnie | Macnamara, Rt. Hon. Dr. T. J. | Roberts, Sir J. H. (Denbighs) |
| Falconer, James | MacNeill, J. G. Swift (Donegal, South) | Robertson, Sir G. Scott (Bradford) |
| Fenwick, Rt. Hon. Charles | Macpherson, James Ian | Robertson, J. M. (Tyneside) |
| Ferens, Rt. Hon. Thomas Robinson | MacVeagh, Jeremiah | Robinson, Sidney |
| Ffrench, Peter | M'Callum, Sir John M. | Roch, Walter F. (Pembroke) |
| Field, William | M'Kean, John | Roche, Augustine (Louth) |
| Fitzgibbon, John | McKenna, Rt. Hon. Reginald | Roe, Sir Thomas |
| Flavin, Michael Joseph | M'Laren, Hon. H. D. (Leics.) | Rowlands, James |
| France, Gerald Ashburner | M'Laren, Hon. F.W.S. (Lincs.,Spalding) | Rowntree, Arnold |
| Gelder, Sir W. A. | M'Micking, Major Gilbert | Russell, Rt. Hon. Thomas W. |
| Gladstone, W. G. C. | Manfield, Harry | Samuel, Rt. Hon. H. L. (Cleveland) |
| Glanville, H. J. | Marshall, Arthur Harold | Samuel, J. (Stockton-on-Tees) |
| Goddard, Sir Daniel Ford | Martin, Joseph | Scanlan, Thomas |
| Goldstone, Frank | Mason, David M. (Coventry) | Schwann, Rt. Hon. Sir Charles E. |
| Greenwood, Granville G. (Petergorough) | Masterman, Rt. Hon. C. F. G. | Scott, A. MacCallum (Glas., Bridgeton) |
| Greenwood, Hamar (Sunderland) | Meagher, Michael | Sheehy, David |
| Greig, Colonel J. W. | Meehan, Francis E. (Leitrim, N.) | Simon, Rt. Hon. Sir John Alisebrook |
| Griffith, Ellis Jones | Meehan, Patrick A. (Queen's Co.) | Smith, Albert (Lancs., Clitheroe) |
| Guest, Hon. Frederick E. (Dorset, E.) | Menzies, Sir Walter | Smith, H. B. Lees (Northampton) |
| Gwynn, Stephen Lucius (Galway) | Middlebrook, William | Smyth, Thomas F. (Leitrim) |
| Hackett, John | Millar, James Duncan | Snowden, Philip |
| Harcourt, Rt. Hon. Lewis (Rossendale) | Molloy, Michael | Soames, Arthur Wellesley |
| Harcourt, Robert V. (Montrose) | Mond, Rt. Hon. Sir Alfred | Spicer, Rt. Hon. Sir Albert |
| Harvey, A. G. C. (Rochdale) | Money, L. G. Chiozza | Stanley, Albert (Staffs, N.W.) |
| Harvey, T. E. (Leeds, West) | Montagu, Hon. E. S. | Sutherland, John E. |
| Harvey, W. E. (Derbyshire, N.E.) | Mooney, John J. | Sutton, John E. |
| Havelock-Allan, Sir Henry | Morgan, George Hay | Taylor, John W. (Durham) |
| Hayden, John Patrick | Morrell, Philip | Taylor, Theodore C. (Radcliffe) |
| Hayward, Evan | Morison, Hector | Tennant, Harold John |
| Hazleton, Richard | Morton, Alpheus Cleophas | Thomas, J. H. |
| Healy, Maurice (Cork) | Muldoon, John | Thorne, G. R. (Wolverhampton) |
| Healy, Timothy Michael (Cork, East) | Munro, Robert | Thorne, William (West Ham) |
| Helme, Sir Norval Watson | Munro-Ferguson, Rt. Hon. R. C. | Toulmin, Sir George |
| Henderson, Arthur (Durham) | Murphy, Martin J. | Trevelyan, Charles Philips |
| Henderson, J. M. (Aberdeen, W.) | Murray, Captain Hon. Arthur C. | Ure, Rt. Hon. Alexander |
| Henry, Sir Charles | Nannetti, Joseph P. | Wadsworth, J. |
| Herbert, General Sir Ivor (Mon., S.) | Needham, Christopher T. | Walsh, Stephen (Lancs., Ince) |
| Higham, John Sharp | Neilson, Francis | Walters, Sir John Tudor |
| Hinds, John | Nicholson, Sir Charles N. (Doncaster) | Walton, Sir Joseph |
| Hobhouse, Rt. Hon. Charles E. H. | Nolan, Joseph | Ward, W. Dudley (Southampton) |
| Hodge, John | Norton, Captain Cecil W. | Wardle, George J. |
| Hogg, David C. | Nugent, Sir Walter Richard | Waring, Walter |
| Hogge, James Myles | Nuttall, Harry | Warner, Sir Thomas Courtenay |
| Holmes, Daniel Turner | O'Brien, Patrick (Kilkenny) | Wason, Rt. Hon. E. (Clackmannan) |
| Holt, Richard Durning | O'Brien, William (Cork) | Wason, John Cathcart (Orkney) |
| Hope, John Deans (Haddington) | O'Connor, John (Kildare, N.) | Watt, Henry Anderson |
| Horne, Charles Silvester (Ipswich) | O' Doherty, Philip | Webb, H. |
| Howard, Hon. Geoffrey | O'Donnell, Thomas | White, J. Dundas (Glasgow, Tradeston) |
| Hudson, Walter | O'Dowd, John | White, Sir Luke (Yorks, E.R.) |
| Hughes, Spencer Leigh | O'Kelly, Edward P. (Wicklow, W.) | White, Patrick (Meath, North) |
| Isaacs, Rt. Hon. Sir Rufus | O'Malley, William | Whittaker, Rt. Hon. Sir Thomas P. |
| Jardine, Sir J. (Roxburgh) | O'Neill, Dr. Charles (Armagh, S.) | Wiles, Thomas |
| John, Edward Thomas | O'Shaughnessy, P. J. | Williams, John (Giamorgan) |
| Jones, Rt.Hon.Sir D.Brynmor (Swansea) | O'Shee, James John | Williams, Penry (Middlesbrough) |
| Jones, Edgar (Merthyr Tydvil) | O'Sullivan, Timothy | Williamson, Sir Archibald |
| Jones, H. Haydn (Merioneth) | Outhwaite, R. L. | Wilson, Hon. G. G. (Hull, W.) |
| Jones, J. Towyn (Carmarthen, East) | Palmer, Godfrey Mark | Wilson, John (Durham, Mid) |
| Jones, William (Carnarvonshire) | Parker, James (Halifax) | Wilson, Rt. Hon. J. W. (Worcs., N.) |
| Jones, William S. Glyn- (Stepney) | Pearce, Robert (Staffs, Leek) | Winfrey, Richard |
| Jowett, F. W. | Pearce, William (Limehouse) | Wing, Thomas Edward |
| Joyce, Michael | Pease, Rt. Hon. Joseph A. (Rotherham) | Wood, Rt. Hon. T. McKinnon (Glasgow) |
| Keating, Matthew | Phillips, John (Longford, S.) | Young, William (Perthshire, East) |
| Kellaway, Frederick George | Pirie, Duncan V. | Yoxall, Sir James Henry |
| Kelly, Edward | Pointer, Joseph | |
| Kennedy, Vincent Paul | Pollard, Sir George H. | TELLERS FOR THE AYES.—Mr. Illingworth and Mr. Gulland. |
| Kilbride, Denis | Ponsonby, Arthur A. W. H. |
| NOES. | ||
| Agg-Gardner, James Tynte | Fisher, Rt. Hon. W. Hayes | Newdegate, F. A. |
| Amery, L. C. M. S. | Fitzroy, Hon. Edward A. | Newman, John R. P. |
| Anson, Rt. Hon. Sir William R. | Fletcher, John Samuel | Nicholson, William G. (Petersfield) |
| Anstruther-Gray, Major William | Forster, Henry William | O'Neill, Hon. A. E. B. (Antrim, Mid) |
| Archer-Shee, Major M. | Gardner, Ernest | Orde-Powlett, Hon. W. G. A. |
| Ashley, Wilfrid W. | Gastrell, Major W. Houghton | Ormsby-Gore, Hon. William |
| Astor, Waldorf | Gilmour, Captain John | Paget, Almeric Hugh |
| Baird, John Lawrence | Glazebrook, Captain Philip K. | Parker, Sir Gilbert (Gravesend) |
| Baker, Sir Randoll L. (Dorset, N.) | Goldsmith, Frank | Parkes, Ebenezer |
| Baldwin, Stanley | Gordon, Hon. John Edward (Brighton) | Pease, Herbert Pike (Darlington) |
| Banbury, Sir Frederick George | Goulding, Edward Alfred | Perkins, Walter F. |
| Baring, Major Hon.Guy V. (Winchester) | Grant, J. A. | Pretyman, Ernest George |
| Barnston, Harry | Gretton, John | Pryce-Jones, Colonel E. |
| Barrie, H. T. | Guinness, Hon. Rupert (Essex, S.E.) | Randles, Sir John S |
| Bathurst, Hon. A. B. (Gloucester, E.) | Guinness, Hon. W. E. (Bury S. Edmunds) | Rawlinson, John Frederick Peel |
| Bathurst, Charles (Wilts, Wilton) | Gwynne, R. S. (Sussex, Eastbourne) | Roberts, S. (Sheffield, Ecclesall) |
| Beach, Hon. Michael Hugh Hicks | Haddock, George Bahr | Rolleston, Sir John |
| Beckett, Hon. Gervase | Hall, D. B. (Isle of Wight) | Ronaldshay, Earl of |
| Benn, Arthur Shirley (Plymouth) | Hall, Frederick (Dulwich) | Rothschild, Lionel de |
| Benn, Ion Hamilton (Greenwich) | Hamersley, Alfred St. George | Royds, Edmund |
| Bentinck, Lord H. Cavendish- | Hamilton, C. G. C. (Ches., Altrincham) | Rutherford, John (Lancs., Darwen) |
| Bigland, Alfred | Hardy, Rt. Hon. Laurence | Samuel, Sir Harry (Norwood) |
| Bird, Alfred | Harris, Henry Percy | Sanders, Robert Arthur |
| Blair, Reginald | Henderson, Major H. (Berkshire) | Sandys, G. J. |
| Boles, Liet.-Colonel Dennis Fortescue | Herbert, Hon. A. (Somerset, S.) | Smith, Rt. Hon. F. E. (L'pool, Walton) |
| Boyle, William (Norfolk, Mid) | Hewins, William Albert Samuel | Smith, Harold (Warrington) |
| Boyton, James | Hills, John Waller | Spear, Sir John Ward |
| Bridgeman, William Clive | Hill-Wood, Samuel | Stanley, Hon. Arthur (Ormskirk) |
| Bull, Sir William James | Hoare, S. J. G. | Stanley, Hon. G. F. (Preston) |
| Burdett-Coutts, W. | Mohier, Gerald Fitzroy | Staveley-Hill, Henry |
| Burgoyne, Alan Hughes | Hope, James Fitzalan (Sheffield) | Steel-Maitland, A. D. |
| Burn, Colonel C. R. | Hope, Major J. A. (Midlothian) | Stewart, Gershom |
| Butcher, John George | Houston, Robert Patercon | Swift, Rigby |
| Campbell, Captain Duncan F. (Ayr, N.) | Hunt, Rowland | Sykes, Sir Mark (Hull, Central) |
| Campion, W. R. | Hunter, Sir Charles Rodk. | Talbot, Lord Edmund |
| Carlile, Sir Edward Hildred | Ingleby, Holcombe | Terrell, George (Wilts, N.W.) |
| Cassel, Felix | Jardine, Ernest (Somerset, E.) | Terrell, Henry (Gloucester) |
| Cator, John | Kinloch-Cooke, Sir Clement | Thompson, Robert (Belfast, North) |
| Cautley, Henry Strother | Larmor, Sir J. | Thynne, Lord Alexander |
| Cecil, Evelyn (Aston Manor) | Law, Rt. Hon. A. Boner (Bootle) | Tullibardine, Marquees of |
| Cecil, Lord Hugh (Oxford Unixersity) | Lawson, Hon. H. (T. H'mts., Mile End) | Valentia, Viscount |
| Chaloner, Colonel R. G. W. | Lee, Arthur Hamilton | Walrond, Hon. Lionel |
| Chamberlain, Rt. Hon. J. A. (Worc'r.,E.) | Lewisham, Viscount | Weigall, Captain A. G. |
| Clay, Captain H. H. Spender | Lloyd, George Ambrose (Stafford, W.) | Weston, Colonel J. W. |
| Clive, Captain Percy Archer | Lloyd, George Butler (Shrewsbury) | Wheler, Granville C. H. |
| Coates, Major Sir Edward Feetham | Locker-Lampson, G (Salisbury) | White, Major G. D. (Lancs., Southport) |
| Craig, Charles Curtis (Antrim, S.) | Lockwood, Rt. Hon. Lt.-Colonel A. R. | Williams, Colonel R. (Dorset, W.) |
| Craig, Ernest (Cheshire, Crewe) | Lowe, Sir F. W. (Birm., Edgbaston) | Willoughby, Major Hon. Claud |
| Craig, Captain James (Down, E.) | Lyttelton, Hon. J. C. (Droitwich) | Wilson, A. Stanley (Yorks, E.R.) |
| Craig, Norman (Kent, Thanet) | MacCaw, William J. MacGeagh | Wolmer, Viscount |
| Crichton-Stuart, Lord Ninian | Mackinder, Halford J. | Wood, Hon. E. F. L. (Yorks, Ripon) |
| Dairymple, Viscount | Macmaster, Donald | Wood, John (Stalybridge) |
| Denison-Pender, J. C. | M'Calmont, Major Robert C. A. | Worthington-Evans, L. |
| Denniss, E. R. B. | Magnus, Sir Philip | Wright, Henry Fitzherbert |
| Dixon, C. H. | Malcolm, Ian | Yate, Colonel C. E. |
| Duncannon, Viscount | Mason, James F. (Windsor) | Younger, Sir George |
| Eyres-Monsell, Bolton M | Meysey-Thompson, E. C. | |
| Faber, Captain W. V. (Hants, W.) | Mildmay, Francis Bingham | TELLERS FOR THE NOES.—Sir |
| Fell, Arthur | Morrison-Bell, Capt. E. F. (Ashburton) | H. Craik and Mr. H. Hope. |
| Finlay, Rt. Hon. Sir Robert | Morrison-Bell, Major A. C. (Honiton) |
Question put, and agreed to.
§ Bill reported without Amendment; to be read the third time To-morrow (Thursday).
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c1898
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